Discovering Career Direct

One of my countless blessings for 2011 is discovering and getting involved with Career Direct. This is an international ministry that provides career guidance, advice and assessment. Our country is privileged to be one of only four countries in Asia (the other three being Taiwan, South Korea and Indonesia) where they expanded and trained consultants. And I am honored to be one of a handful of Filipinos who are trained and authorized to provide such services.

There are basically two types of assessment we offer – Educational, which is designed to help students fresh out of high school or even those already in college, decide on what course or degree to pursue; and Occupational, which helps individuals in planning their career path at whatever stage in life.

The underlying principle for both types of assessment is that there is an intelligent and loving God who created each one of us with a special combination of personalities, interests, natural abilities and values; and when we properly study and inter-relate these elements, it would give us a very clear picture of the inner workings of that individual – his or her unique design. And this design, as discovered from the assessment, would give us strong indicators of that person's purpose or calling in life, what God created him to do in this world. The consultants are trained to properly interpret, explain and suggest action plans based on the computer-generated results of the tests.

But aside from the tried-and-tested science and the psychometric integrity behind the tests we administer, what excites me even more is the potential of helping people in a very powerful and personal way. And we've only just begun.

I will be conducting a special seminar called "Living By His Design" by Career Direct on January 16, 2011 at CCF St. Francis Square. I encourage everyone to attend and understand in a deeper way God's unique design and calling for each one of us.

Details of the seminar may be found on this link.

The World of Make Believe

Let's talk about one of my loves - fiction! Being the cheapskate that I am, most of the books I own are either acquired free as gifts, or bought at bargain prices. However, the few expensive (this is a relative adjective) ones that I bought were purchases I never regretted - worthy investments, I would say.

Personally, I am so outdated when it comes to reading. In fact, I have a penchant for reading certain books over and over again regardless of its year of publication or popularity. When J.K. Rowlings' "Harry Potter" books hit the country many years ago, I started getting into the bandwagon about a couple of years late and after a lot of convincing. When the controversial "His Dark Materials" series (Philip Pullman) became a hit in America, I thought I would eventually be proud of being one of those who first acquired the whole set in our country (courtesy of my dear friend Cherrie Gow-Lim), but the hoopla fizzled out and didn't make it to our shores, thankfully - no thanks to that dismal movie version of the first book of the series, "The Golden Compass" with Nicole Kidman. And when some younger friends started raving about "The Hungry Games" (Suzanne Collins), I told myself that I should check that out before it becomes a movie and now I guess I'm too late. The only fantasy series I fell in love with in recent years are those of David Eddings and Frank Peretti. (Of course, I read the series of J.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis as a young kid and I never re-visited them until the movie versions came out.)

So which fiction am I reading now? Frank Peretti's "The Visitation." I'll blog about it when I'm done. I'm also interested in getting myself a copy of "Caleb's Crossing" by Geraldine Brooks, because it was cited by Christianity Today as the best fiction of 2011. So here's to more exciting adventures in the world of books for this new year!